Keeping me warm and cozy

After the month of December in Canmore, Alberta and Grand Rapids, Minnesota I became pretty darn use to the cold. I always feel like a bit of a wimp at the beginning of the winter when I think 10F is cold. That just doesn’t fly with me. December put me in better winter shape and improving my tolerance quite a bit.
After barring some pretty bitter cold weather, you can imagine my excitement when I came across a new product that is easy to travel with, non-toxic, reusable, inexpensive and ohhh so useful! It is called the Sol Pod. It is a portable heat pack. You place it in boiling water for a few minutes to heat them up. They have two different sizes, one is perfect for you glove and the others are great to put in your coat if you are standing in the cold or putting on your cold feet when lying in bed. I love them! I warm them up and put them on tight muscle and cold fingers. They say they stay warm for up to an hour but I have found they last longer than that.
Anyone who spends time out in the cold or is troubled with cold hands or feet should defiantly invest in a couple Sol Pods. If you use a heating pad at home, give a Sol Pod a try instead, you won’t regret it. And they are very inexpensive, so you really can’t go wrong.
You can check their website out at: http://solpods.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=29
You can also order them here.
Here’s to warm keeping all our fingers and toes warm this winter,
Cheers,
BethAnn

Photos from around town

Here are a few more images I have been able to catch over the past few days. Hope you enjoy!
Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year
BethAnn

Germany

I made it! Minneapolis to Chicago and Chicago to Munich, not a bad travel day. I arrived this morning here in Munich with all of my teammates. We had a little mechanical trouble with the van, which you can see from the pictures. Once we found the problem it was a quick fix, thankfully! Always an adventure!
I am running out of time on-line here so I am going to have to keep this short.
More to come.....

-BethAnn

SEASON'S GREETINGS TO YOU ALL!

Here is a photo of me making the most of the big snow storm that hit Minnesota on Christmas. It has been too long since I made my last snowman! I had forgotten how much fun it is. Hope all of you have had a chance to play in the snow too!
cheers, BethAnn

CLEAN!

There is so much to catch up on, I am not sure where to start. It has been a crazy couple weeks here in Minnesota. I have been fortunate enough to have the first step of the Olympic qualifications held in my hometown of Grand Rapids. This means I was able to stay at my parent’s house, the house I grew up in, during all of the races. This was priceless and am very thankful for it.
We have had five races over the last two and a half weeks. The top four girls from these races move onto the second Olympic qualification step, racing in the IBU Cup in Altenberg Germany. There are three open spots on the 2010 U.S. Olympic biathlon team. There will be six girls total, fighting for these three open spots and I will be one of them.
I had many ups and downs during these five races. Things were not looking good going into the last race this past Tuesday. I struggled, mostly on the range, in the first four races. I was fairly happy with how I felt skiing but wasn’t knocking the targets down the way I knew I could. I went into the last racing telling myself I have nothing to lose. I love the sport of biathlon and enjoying competing in it. My goal was to stay relaxed, do my own thing, shoot and ski to my very best ability, have fun and to leave everything I had out on the course. Mostly I was just trying to stay relaxed and have fun, too much thinking often gets me into trouble. What clicked, I am not sure but I hit all my targets and skied hardest and won the last race. This was just enough to put me on the team. The day before I didn’t even think this was possible.
I think my mom summed it up best by stating that perseverance is the name of the game. I have been competing in this sport for 12 years now. I have only shot clean, hitting all of my targets, in a race, on two other occasions. I can hardly believe I did it again on this particular day.
I have a few more days to enjoy here in Minnesota before heading over to Europe. I am grateful that I am able to spend them with much of my family.
I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday, full of yummy food, good company and lots of snow!
Happy Holidays,
BethAnn

Happy Holidays to everyone!

A great holiday gift from the Phoenix Airport to all it's travelers, free wireless internet! Thank you! So as you might have guess I am on the road again. I am headed to my hometown of Grand Rapids, MN, via Phoenix, not exactly direct but it will do.
We wrapped up everything in Canmore yesterday with a NORAM race. It was a tough one for me, mostly on the range. For one reason or another I couldn't get the targets to fall, which made for a challenging race. I felt better skiing as I went along but the mental challenge of holding my head high after skiing too penalty loop forced me to dig deep.
I had many things running through my head during the race but one theme stood out more then anything else, what can I learn from this experience. I knew this was a race I didn't want to ever repeat, so I figured while I was out there, I mine as make the best of it. I pushed hard skiing, knowing the intensity would do me good, focused on a few technique ideas I have been working on and worked hard at staying relaxed. Staying relaxed while racing is a big challenge. Believe it or not you can ski a lot smoother, faster and use a lot less energy if you think more about your pushes and gliding on the ski then just going fast. I find this especially hard when things aren't going your way while you are out there.
So my race turned into a big learning experience, one challenge after another. How do you keep your head in the game when you know things are not going well? What keeps you going when you know you aren't going to be able to crawl your way out before the end of the race? I can't say I have a definite answer but know that I can work through it. It is only one day after all. Right now I am looking forward to the days ahead. It's on-ward and upward for me!
Best snow wishes to you all,
BethAnn


A quick shot of the check-in process at the Calgary Airport at about 4:15 this morning. Left over PB and J was on the menu for all! mmmmm

Winter has arrived.

I grew up in Northern Minnesota. I am no stranger to cold weather. Never the less every year when winter falls upon us, I begin to wonder how many layers of clothing I can wear and still move on skis. Thankfully my body gradually adapts to the cold and I am much tougher. But right now, I am feeling a little wimpy.

This morning we pushed back our morning training to allow the temperature to warm up a bit. It was -6F when I got up. Brrrr. By the sound of the weather forecast things aren't going to warm up any time soon. After this weekend we head to Minnesota.
Chances are we will be lucky enough to have this cold weather follow us. It looks like I will have plenty of time to get use to the cold again.

In all honesty with the right clothing, just enough Dermatone covering my face and my trusty glove liners, (seriously if you spend any time out in the cold get yourself a pair of glove liners. They are amazing!) it really isn't bad. Biathlon always makes staying warm a little more tricky with the stopping and starting while shooting but you learn tricks along the way and just do your best to have fun with it.
This cold weather makes me even more greatful of the support I receive from Icebreaker. They make base layer clothing, along with other great outdoor wear. It is all merino wool, which makes it really warm without being itchy! And always smells wonderfully. No joke. I owe many thanks to them for keeping everything from my head to my toes warm! You can check them out at www.icebreaker.com.
Thanks for checking in and remember, think snow!